Bethel, OR: District expands SPED facility

Aug 25, 2025, Lookout: What’s new at school? Bethel invests in special ed spaces

https://lookouteugene-springfield.com/story/education/2025/08/25/whats-new-at-school-bethel-invests-in-special-ed-spaces 

Across Dove Lane from Willamette High School, Bailey Hucke sets up her classroom.

It’s not a traditional classroom with desks and a white board. Instead, it’s in a ranch-style house, with two wheelchair ramps.

Hucke is a life skills transition teacher for Bethel School District, and during the upcoming school year her students will be a group of 18- to 21-year-olds living with disabilities that can make it hard for them to live independently. The house, newly purchased and renovated by the district, will be the space where students develop skills to take care of themselves and work. 

Across Eugene and Springfield, significant school infrastructure changes won’t be visible in many spots this fall, but the Bethel Life Skills Transition house is one of a handful of new projects families and teachers will see as students return to school.

New space for growth

At the house on Dove Lane, Hucke schemes about decor and furniture placement. The windows in the house are large and bright, perfect for plants.

“Obviously we’re going to have to put plants everywhere,” Hucke said, laughing. “That’s my thing.”

This year will be a homecoming of sorts for her students, in multiple ways. The cohort of young adults previously attended the life skills transition program at Lane Education Service District Westmoreland Campus, but they will now be served in their own neighborhood. The consistency is important.

Students will learn how to navigate the WinCo and the Rite Aid that they will use for everyday shopping. The house setting will also be the ideal backdrop for implementing routines that youth will have for the rest of their lives, Hucke said, like folding laundry, putting away dishes and making a grocery list.

“Consistency really is key for retention of skills,” Hucke said. “The comfortability in a space, the comfortability with people or even just walking down a sidewalk for some students — it’s like you need to be in that location to do it.”

Hucke will also be a familiar, trusted face for students who went through Willamette High School’s life skills program. She worked with students with disabilities for four years at the high school. She’s looking forward to transitioning to the sunny setting of the Dove Lane house, however. Working with older students will provide her more freedom in her lesson planning, maybe even a chance to teach her students how to tend plants.